~~FEMININE MATTERS~~

BROOKLYN'S BENEVOLENCE BEADS

She has a dear friend.  Her friend's mom has cancer.  She wants to help.  She got an idea.  She'd make necklaces and sell them and give the money to help.  She asked me for help.  I researched various websites to ensure they were safe so she could create her own beads out of paper.  We worked all afternoon one Sunday, cutting paper, gluing it, and rolling it into these darling little beads.  She's now stringing them and selling them.  She's excited.  I'm excited.  And I am sure the Lord is excited, too.  And that's the best part of it all.  May Jesus gain all the glory.  After all... she's a Proverbs 31 lady:

"She...works with eager hands." (13b)

...sets about her work vigorously;

...her arms are strong for her tasks. (17)

....she extends her hands to the needy." (20)

HOT RICE AND BEAN SALAD by selahV

So, I had a bowl of rice leftover from another meal the day before.  For my lunch I made this treat.  I plopped about 3/4 cup rice in a microwave safe bowl, opened a can of pinto beans and dropped about 1/2 cup on top, (stored the rest), then added 1/2 cup shredded cheese.  I nuked it for about 2 minutes.  Varies with microwaves.  I diced up 1/2 cup of green pepper, cut up half a tomato in chunks, added them to the top of the preheated rice, beans, and cheese.  Of course, I can never have enough cheese so I added another half cup or so.  Then I nuked them all for 30 seconds.  When the dink, dink, dink sounded, I chowed down like I was some kinda fancy dancy cafe.  Yummy!

 Sure, you can print this out and share it with a friend.  But, why not have that friend, or more, over to try it out.  Share your salad with your favorite lunch bunch, and save the money from what you all would spend on lunch somewhere.  Put the money in a missions bank for feeding the hungry.  Yeah, almost all the time I have these ingredients in my cupboard and fridge.  It's part of being me. Part of God's provision.  Oh, blessed am I.  selahV

IMPORTANCE

Occasionally we think we are important.  Sometimes it occurs when someone appreciates us.  Appreciation turns to admiration, admiration to idolization or dependency.  Not good, for either us--or others.  Sooner or later we fail to measure up to an admirer's image of us.  Sooner or later, we fail to meet another's need for the hour.  When this occurs, all parties involved feel the sting of separation.  Ultimately there is only One Who can meet our needs and fulfill the empty space within our hearts.  Only Christ holds the piece of life's puzzle.  Christ alone.  selahV

Vulnerability

It's a very dangerous thing.  To bare one's soul, open one's heart, or share one's thoughts.  To do so tills the ground for anyone to tromp all over the intimacy we once guarded and crush the tender shoots of trust.  Boundaries.  Most often they serve us well.  Otherwise even the closest friend can take advantage of our vulnerability.  Just when we begin to release a piece of ourselves into the care of another, they're apt to treat it carelessly--more so than we would tend to it ourselves.  Erecting walls, invisible or real--may be the only way to live within a world of constant critiques and bias.  It is a peaceful thing to know there is no need for walls, nor ceilings, locks or keys with our Father in heaven.  He knows.  And He loves anyway.  selahV

FRUMPY DEFINED

A dear friend of mine, who blindly loves me with all the grace of God, face-booked me this comment: "BTW what does frumpy mean? Because I must have the wrong definition. You, my friend [are] anything but frumpy."

Ya simply gotta love a friend like that, don't you?  I needed to assure Mary that I was indeed frumpy.  I considered what it meant to me.  So given the fact that since Thanksgiving, I've added another 15 pounds to my excess of 75, I answered: "Frumpy: a sloppy, colorless, wad of bleh!  LOL."

Dressing room mirrors in all the local stores confirm it.  I tried on some rather nice little articles of clothing last week--things I'd seen others wearing that seemed sooooo chic and stylish.  Folks.  Let me tell ya something.  Short people can't wear the same cheetah and fox faux-fur vests that taller folks wear--  unless said "short people" can shop outside the fuller-figure racks of clothing.  All the stylish bulky sweaters do is add more bulk.  All the lime-green, magenta, clingy, thinner fabrics do is accentuate the negative rolls and wads one wants to camouflage.  So adding color to the "wad" isn't necessarily the answer.  It kinda calls attention to it.  Ever notice how the larger the size, the bigger the flowers and stripes are on the fabric?  I have.  A five-foot-one and, uh...chunky person dressed in tight-fitting or loose-fitting tee-shirt material is frumpy.  Plain and simple.

Couple that with my hairstyle (which hasn't been cut, or shaped in a year), and I qualify for at least one definition of frumpy.  Oh, what to do, what to do...

Gotta have a strategy...a plan of action...a resolve.  Ya know?  Exercise is an option.  And maybe a higher consideration to diet?

Okay...I guess the trip I made to the grocery yesterday could count for exercise.  But I don't think the Nutty Bars, Cheezits, Eclairs and Vienna Fingers I purchased could be considered helpful, unless I give them to all my tall, skinny friends at church tomorrow.  Do you?  selahV

[TO OWN YOUR OWN DOGGY VEST LIKE PICTURED: JUST CLICK HERE]

I'M JUST GIDDY

When I started blogging in 2006, I had no idea who I'd meet in blogland.  Fear, anxiety, excitement and caution danced as partners in my mind as I met people in cyberspace.  One particular blogger has followed me from day one.  She was a complete stranger.  Yet, she encouraged me and prayed for me.  Through the four years we've known one another, she has mailed me care packages filled with CD's, books, tote bags and other friendship goodies.  She means the world to me.  Today we talked on the phone for the very first time.  Don't know why we've never done that before.  But for whatever reason, we haven't.  And today was such a blessing!

I could finally hear the voice and match her up to all the emails and correspondence we've had through the years.  I could now hear the humor in her messages.  I could hear her LOL and ROFLOL.  It was a great experience.  Someday we'll get to have lunch with one another.  Someday.  When that day comes, we're gonna laugh ourselves silly.  I'm certain.  selahV   

BRAND NEW HAMMOCK

We stood there in Lowes trying to decide between cotton and polyester.  I'm thinking...will the polyester be uncomfortable?  Hot?  Itchy?  I had a cotton hammock and it was so wonderful.  When the birds drop their treasure upon it, all I have to do is hose it down and the spots are history (till the next time).  So I'm thinking...do I want to try something new?  Hmmmmn, polyester.  They were the exact same price and the polyester one was green.  It would color-coodinate so well with the flower garden, too.

Then I spotted some hammocks that were woven like those little placemats we make in Bible-school.  But they were much more than I had to spend.  And I didn't think they'd be as easy to clean.  And anyway, there's something about leaving my hammock out all year that comforts me.  When winter comes and we have that wonderful January thaw (usually in February) and the weather is brisk but not so cold you can't lie in a hammock and stare at the sky through bare lacy limbs, it's nice to have my hammock already hanging.  I couldn't do that with a woven one.  I'd have to bring that in during the inclimate weather.

I decided.  Cotton.  And I'm glad I did.  It just feels better to know I'm lying in fiber that is God-made and not man-made.  It's kind of like an extra bonus to lying in the midst of God's creation.  Kind of like a hug.  selahV

THIS IS Abby and Brooklyn on the first day of the hammock's hanging.  What could be better to do than swing and sing and giggle beneath the canopy of shaded pecans?

FAVORITE THINGS AND MORE

Karen, a friend of mine, wrote a post on Tried and True about her favorite things.  Ya oughta go take a look and list a few of your favorites for her.  Here are some of mine:

~~Lying in my hammock and listening to Bebo Norman cds.
~~Lying in my hammock and listening to Bebo Norman cds with my granddaughters all snuggled up with me. And us all singing along for the neighborhood.
~~~teaparties with my granddaughters.
~~~having lunch at school with my granddaughters.
~~~lunching with a friend and sharing a dessert afterwards with two forks.
~~~The first shoots of flowers peeping through the earth in Spring.
~~~butterflies, butterflies, butterflies.
~~~the first bite into the first warm ripe tomato off the vine
~~~picking beans
~~~sipping hot mulled applecider on a cold blustery night.
~~~the smell of homemade chicken soup on the stove.
~~~the pop of corn on the cob between my teeth
~~~Finding out my clock was fast when I'm late for an appointment.
~~~merciful policemen when I'm going too fast.
~~~the comfort I find in God's Word when my heart is broken.
~~~the friend He brings to share my broken heart. SelahV

FRIENDS BEND BUT THEY DO NOT BREAK

Thirty-four years ago, a young gal came to me and asked me, "Will you be my friend?"  At the time, I had great misgivings about this girl.  She was not the kind of person I would have chosen to befriend.  (Mind you, I was not a Christian.)  I didn't think she had the "staying-power" to be a friend.  I figured she would bend at the first sign of wind, then break in the midst of a storm.  This is what I told her:

"I don't know.  You see, I place a very very high value on friendship.  I do not enter into a relationship with a person expecting them to be anything other than a friend.  Being a friend takes work; and the highest quality of a friend is trust."

To that she said, she could be trusted.

"I hope you know what you are saying.  Because friends don't just trust friends with their private thoughts and expect they will not be repeated.  Friends trust their very heart and life to others."

I do not know where I came to understand that idea of trust or friendship, it may have been because so many people in my life had proved to be untrustworthy and I had found at the early age of 25 that trust is a high-priced commodity in one's heart.  The price one pays is as high as the other side of betrayal.  Should we venture into any relationship, we are apt to have our loyalty tested, our reasoning questioned and our hearts broken.  So we must realize that from the beginning of a friendship.  Then we must ask ourselves if we are willing to do what it takes, go the extra mile--and beyond--to reach the other side of true friendship.

I explained this to the gal who sought my friendship and told her to go home and think about it all.  If she thought that was something she wanted from a friend, then I'd be willing to be her friend.  I knew it would be an unconditional thing, on my part.  You love because you love, not because the other loves.   I told her that there would be times when I was not all she needed of me.  There would be times I would not meet her expectations.  There would be times I would fail to be the friend she wanted because I would be weak and without any strength to be the friend I should be.

I told her that there would be times of silence between us and though there was silence in the conversation of things, that the lull in the conversation did not mean we were no longer friends.  I told her that there would be times that we would be challenged to confront each other with the unaltered, naked truth of our emotions and we must be brave enough to face each other and be all we needed to be in that moment.  I told her we would hurt each other because of our ignorance of each other, but would not want to hurt each other in the knowledge of each other.

And we became friends. 

DOG BISCUITS AND PINK ICED-CAKES

YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!  Scrumpcious cakes.  These lovely squares of delectable treats were made by a friend of mine.  Chris is a handy lady.  She can whip up professional cakes, stitch together an entire bridal ensemble, decorate the church, serve the wedding guests, and then help renovate a home for them.  All in one month if the renovation is left till after the honeymoon.  She can make custom drapes and reupholster a sofa.  I'm here to tell you Chis is an amazing Christian lady.  Moss does not grow beneath her feet.

I admire her.  I find her one of the most interesting, humble people I've ever met.  She is an avid supporter of the public library, a lover of dogs, plants and crafts.  She volunteers her time at the International Friendship Group every Tuesday morning.  There she has a prepared craft for bilingual ladies to put together.

She is always willing to lend a hand to anyone in need.  She helps distribute food on Angel Food day and takes an enormous amount of pleasure in serving God with all the talents and gifts He has graciously bestowed upon her.  She would be the first to tell you that she doesn't do much.  She does not blow her own horn and is embarassed by others who blow it for her.  But she is a jewel.  A precious jewel.

It's hard to imagine a 5-foot feminine lady who can tile a floor, wire a home, plumb a bathroom and paint walls.  But Chris can.  Gosh, I'm blessed to know her.  And you would be, too.  Below is a picture I took of her at a doggie shower we gave her.  She'd just gotten a baby cocker spaniel.  So since she doesn't have any grandchildren and she is always first to help out in every shower thrown for others, we felt she deserved a shower of her own.

Talk about fun.

If you came to this blog looking for food, all I can offer today is a piece of cake and some doggie biscuits--corn made.  Wheat's not good for dogs.  Did you know that?

Want to show how much you appreciate someone?  Dream up a reason to throw a surprise shower.  Did you have a friend who just remodeled a kitchen, a bathroom?  Have a friend who just planted her first flower garden, dug her first fish pond?  Lands alive!  Have a party!

There's no greater blessing in the world than blessing another.  There's no greater joy than seeing the joy on another's face and knowing you had a tiny part in placing it there.  There's no greater gift, no better food for the soul, than laughter in the company of friends.  You can feed on it for years to come.  selahV